Salem: Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay will release water from the Mettur Dam on Tuesday, for samba cultivation in Cauvery delta districts after improved storage and the monsoon onset prompted government to approve supplies for 45 days.Vijay is scheduled to open the dam’s upper gates on the right bank between 9.30am and 10.30am. Ahead of the visit, water resources and rural development minister N Anand on Monday evening, inspected the dam’s safety and oversaw preparations for the water release event. He was accompanied by transport minister Vijay Thamizhan Parthiban, Salem west MLA Lakshmanan and senior govt officials.Following the inspection, authorities said necessary steps were being taken to ensure adequate Cauvery water for farmers. Mettur dam irrigates 16.05 lakh acres across 12 districts, including Salem, Namakkal and Erode. Normally, 330 tmc ft is released over 230 days from June 12 to Jan 28 for kuruvai, samba and thaladi crops. However, poor inflow prevented the scheduled June 12 release for Kuruvai cultivation this year.Heavy rain in Wayanad, Kerala, subsequently filled Karnataka’s Kabini dam, resulting in surplus releases into Cauvery. Mettur’s water level reached 90.92 ft feet on Monday evening, while inflows rose from 6,887 cusecs to 9,035 cusecs. Earlier, on Sunday, water resources department secretary Prashant M Wadanere inspected the dam with senior officials including Trichy zone chief engineer Jayakumari, Mettur RDO Sukumar and executive engineer Venkatachalam.Meanwhile, barricades have been installed for several kilometres between Mettur revenue divisional office and the event stage, where Vijay will open the gates. Security has been tightened, with one West Zone IG RV Ramya Bharathi, four DIGs, 15 SPs, 15 additional SPs, 35 DSPs and 3,827 police personnel deployed.
